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All this talk of tablets has raised my interest in getting a touchscreen device. My knowledge is limited so I turn to the forum for advice.

I'm looking for a tablet pc for $1000 or less that will run Photoshop/Corel well, has touch sensitivity options, a good screen (bright colors, doesn't fade at different angles) and is mostly lag-free (brush strokes appear as they happen, not 3 seconds later). Basically, I want an art machine.

I already own a USB tablet but it's pretty much unusable with my current setup. My laptop's screen really sucks. It has that "faded look no matter what angle I view it" look. Terrible for choosing colors and editing photos. My second problem is the disconnect between my actions on the tablet and what I see on the screen. It's like trying to write properly while looking at the sky. I can't seem to get the hang of it. On the other hand, touch screen drawing apps have worked wonders for me and I'd like to it to the next level.

This makes me pretty sad, as I was moderately interested in the transformer tablet. I've currently got a 32GB Xoom on loan from work. It's nice, but I have to echo a lot of Guru's complaints. Particularly in regards to the app stability. Crashes seem to be almost constant for several of the things I've downloaded from the marketplace (mostly game demos). Hell, even builtins like the browser, gtalk, and music apps have crashed!

I have had the Xoom for a month now and when I first got it, crashes were more common, but now it runs very stable for me. Only games can sometimes crash, but they are usually not very good anyway.

The only repeatable crashes I'm getting right now are:

- Aldiko crashes if the tablet switches from landscape to portrait or vice-versa

- chrome crashes on one forum website I frequent (R8talk.com)

Not totally thrilled with the Xoom. Love the notifications and app management. Love the ease of sideloading and customization. Integration with Mail and Calendar is great! App availability is anemic - though to be fair it's probably no worse than the iPad was in this stage of availability - and still no SD Card or 4LTE support.

- Aldiko crashes if the tablet switches from landscape to portrait or vice-versa

- chrome crashes on one forum website I frequent (R8talk.com)

Not totally thrilled with the Xoom. Love the notifications and app management. Love the ease of sideloading and customization. Integration with Mail and Calendar is great! App availability is anemic - though to be fair it's probably no worse than the iPad was in this stage of availability - and still no SD Card or 4LTE support.

That might explain some of it. I disabled the auto switch between landscape and portrait (I don't like it changing when I am lying on the couch or in bed and trying to use it sideways). Haven't had chrome crashes but I have never been to that site.

As for the apps, the rate of new apps seems to be accellerating. I have found some really nice ones recently. I am not really anxious for the SD card fix yet (though it sucks they haven't done it) but the 4G/LTE has been taking too long.

I picked up the Acer a500 this weekend. I've spent way too much time on it and I'm really digging it. I was looking to get a Transformer but the reports of poor build quality had me doubting it. The a500 has a USB host port and the metal backing makes it really solid.

I picked up the Acer a500 this weekend. I've spent way too much time on it and I'm really digging it. I was looking to get a Transformer but the reports of poor build quality had me doubting it. The a500 has a USB host port and the metal backing makes it really solid.

I cannot wait for the Meego version (I mean, I'll have to, since I'll be backpacking. But you know what I mean.)

Meego looks interesting.. but without Developer support (since it wont sell enough units) its dead in the water... but the N9 makes me happy because Nokia still makes the best hardware.. so perhaps with a viable Smartphone OS (Windows Mobile 7) we might see a really nice iPhone competitor from Nokia.

Aint nothing new about the world order..it's been playing since the day they put George Washington on a quarterDelivering Truth while the 10% deliver lies.

Hmm.. well even so whats is the incentive if you have a total installed base of 40,000 units? Don't get me wrong.. I'm pretty much down to a small set of apps that I consider crucial for a phone.. outside of that its mostly about games then...

Aint nothing new about the world order..it's been playing since the day they put George Washington on a quarterDelivering Truth while the 10% deliver lies.

I've been following this thread with interest, as I'm seriously considering getting a tablet in the next month. I have been comparing Android, Meego, WebOS, Apple - and even considering netbooks as well. The Windows 8 demos have been interesting as well - finally seems like MS might be taking tablet computing a bit more seriously, insofar as making an OS people might actually want to 'touch'.

Sadly, there are still no real competitors to the iOS in terms of audio/midi - for DAW control, standalone sequencing/audio/composing applications, nobody is doing anything remotely close to what Apple is, nor are developers actively creating so many kick ass apps for any other platform. Apps being really the crucial function for a table (for me), currently it seems to be a no-contest...

Does anyone have any positive experiences to report with Android or any of the other tablet OS's regarding music/audio/midi/composing/recording apps?

I'm with GameGuru. Linux on a phone is even more of a niche than Linux on the desktop.

What? Linux is at the core of Android, WebOS, and MeeGo.

While true and gives developers a leg up in developing apps for each system.. in the end you can't simply take an Android app and have it run perfectly on MeeGo (though it appears there is some "wrapper" that will do just that but I would have to wait and see how it performs)

They Nokia N950 also was leaked... looking like the successor to the N900 which again I loved from a hardware standpoint..but its software was awful..

I look forward to my standard torture test of the the N9 (my 5400 contacts) I've never had a single Nokia phone handle my contact database properly.

Aint nothing new about the world order..it's been playing since the day they put George Washington on a quarterDelivering Truth while the 10% deliver lies.

I'm with GameGuru. Linux on a phone is even more of a niche than Linux on the desktop.

What? Linux is at the core of Android, WebOS, and MeeGo.

While true and gives developers a leg up in developing apps for each system.. in the end you can't simply take an Android app and have it run perfectly on MeeGo (though it appears there is some "wrapper" that will do just that but I would have to wait and see how it performs)

I understand that. I just didn't understand how he said Linux on a phone was a niche, when in actuality it's very widespread.

It's in a fairly large majority of smartphones shipping today, in fact.

"Niche", it is not. Linux is dominant, iOS is very strong, and Windows is barely a blip on the radar.

(note, however, that this does get into rather blurry definitions; "Linux" can mean both a kernel and a software distribution. Linux kernels are freaking everywhere on phones. But the layers on top of that kernel can be quite different.)

You could argue, probably correctly, that because of the fragmentation of the Linux-kernel market, that iOS is actually dominant; it certainly outships any individual variant of Linux smartphone. But by no possible stretch of the imagination could you call a Linux phone a niche product.

"I've been playing Rebel Galaxy for the past few days. It has made me appreciate every other game in the genre more." -- Flintheart Glomgold

But it is not a niche, and your dismissive tone is unwarranted. Linux is dominating handsets. Absolutely dominating. There is a lot of competition going on to see which software stack on top of that kernel will prove to be the most popular. Android is doing the best, and the Android app store works quite well across a very wide array of devices.

Apple's software stack is more polished, but in exchange you have to accept an extremely narrow view of what hardware should be in a handset or tablet, and a draconian level of control over "your" device and what programs you can run on it.

Obviously, many people find that worthwhile. You are apparently one of them. That does not make Linux any less dominant in the handset market.

"I've been playing Rebel Galaxy for the past few days. It has made me appreciate every other game in the genre more." -- Flintheart Glomgold

I think we got sidetracked with semantics.. obviously the underlying "core" of many of the most popular mobile OS's is Linux.. but to the end user and ultimately to the development community at large.. that is immaterial to the success of Meego. If there isnt a sufficient user base for Meego then there will be very little in the way of app development that takes full use of the hardware and capabilities of the platform. Again not knowing how functional this Android "wrapper" will be it could be that this phone essentially runs all the Android apps and they can perform as well as the native apps.

Aint nothing new about the world order..it's been playing since the day they put George Washington on a quarterDelivering Truth while the 10% deliver lies.

Screwed around with the Playbook yesterday and its was surprisingly fun/useful/insert positive adjective here.

Was using it over Wifi so the speed was damn fast, very easy to multi task. Downloaded the free need for speed game that ran great.

Havent messed around with an Ipad much but I think in quick comparison the Playbook for me is very close to the exact size I would want from a tablet. Not so big its cumbersome yet just big enough for reading websites watching videos etc. For instance using it wide screen everything was nice and large and it was barley to big to easily manipulate in two hands as if it was a controller. Using it skinny the typing became more difficult but much more natural if you were say reading an article on a webpage.

Since this is "recommend me" I think this is a good place to pose the following:

I am a gadget junkie and have been wanting a tablet for a while, but cannot for the life of me see any useful reason for me to get one. I have a Nook WiFi, so don't need an e-reader. I don't travel much at all and my work commute is a whopping 5 minutes (7 minutes if I miss the single stoplight I go through) and when I game, its on the PC and sometimes (25%) on the PS3. I'm leaning towards the Acer Iconia A500 right now, as the full USB port is a big plus in my book.

So what use would I really get out of a tablet or am I just spending money that could go somewhere else?

I'm actually on my a500 right now. It's now my goto device for web browsing, RSS reading, email, Google Maps, etc. I've also started using it for magazines with Zinio. Being able to recline or lay on my back with a device with a sharp display and no heat generation is perfect for me. Absolutely love it.

I picked up a Toshiba Thrive (16GB model for $479 from newegg). So far its more stable than my last Android tablet.. but far from what it needs to be. The built in browser crashes a good deal.. the Marketplace app even will crash on occasion when you are trying to shift from the buy to the install process.

From a functionality standpoint it needs work as well.. scrolling through the screen on a browser is a bit choppy at times.. and then I suspect because of that where you touch on a link might not always be where you think you are touching thus launching the complete wrong link at times. Seems to happen on pages like engadget.com more often than other less "image" heavy sites possibly.

Google+ integration is slick though..

Aint nothing new about the world order..it's been playing since the day they put George Washington on a quarterDelivering Truth while the 10% deliver lies.

Got a Xoom off of Woot, will be here today. This is my first foray into the world of apps... don't have a cool smartphone and haven't owned a tablet yet. I mostly just want it to have easy email/browser access so I'm hoping it'll suffice for my needs! Plus I can play around with Android app development a bit.

The app doesn't run on mine, and the entire internet basically says "Nope, you're f*cked. Even the hacked versions don't work now."

I was using the Thunderstick ROM and it had a modified Netflix.apk included. I think the ROM has to be Gingerbread but devs can alter the phone type in the .apk to get around the restriction. Again, it was awesome watching Avengers on my phone!

Pro is five years old. Karmajay has won it thrice, including back-to-back as of today. Does that qualify as a dynasty? -- Grumpicus

I've been watching the non-ipad tablet market for the past few months, planning to eventually get one for the "right" price. I'm thinking that I'll want a 10" tablet once I've waited a few more months to see what else comes out (especially Amazon's tablet). Yesterday I realized that I can get a factory refurbished Nook Color for $199 (free shipping direct from B&N) and easily install CyanogenMod 7 on it at no extra cost (I already have a 8GB microSD card) thanks to a good Youtube tutorial video I watched. Even though the Nook Color is only 7", I'm seriously thinking about going that route now as sort of an "entry level" tablet experience.

Has anyone else rooted a Nook Color and used it as a proper Android tablet? If so, how did you like it, and would you consider $200 to be a good price for the experience?

Steam: [GWJ]MeatMan | "Now I know where to go if I have a hankering for testicles." –Higgledy